The Perse School

Qui facit per alium facit per se (He who does a thing through another does it himself), runs the Perse motto, a Latin pun that turns the founder's surname into a maxim and has outlasted four centuries. Founded in 1615 by Dr Stephen Perse, this co-educational Cambridge independent now spans ages 3 to 18 across three sites, from the Pelican pre-prep to a sixth form that sends students to Oxford, Cambridge and universities across the world. Results sit in the elite tier in England, with a top-40 academic position at GCSE and a top-30 at A-level, and first place in Cambridge for GCSE. Day fees apply at every stage, with means-tested bursaries worth up to the full fee. Edward Elliott has led the school since 2008.

The Perse is an intellectual school that wears its seriousness lightly. Its four stated values, Endeavour, Intellectual Curiosity and Scholarship, Breadth and Balance, and One Another and Our Environment, are not wall decoration but a working description of daily life: curiosity is treated as a habit to be built, not a trait children either have or lack. This is a place that has thought carefully about what it wants its pupils to become, and not only about the grades they will collect on the way.

Much of that thinking is organised around what the school calls its 3D education model, which pairs academic depth with personal development beyond the classroom. The clearest expression of it is the Perse Exploration Society, a progressive outdoor education programme that starts with a first night away from home for the youngest pupils and builds, year by year, into multi-week expeditions to high-altitude venues in India, Bolivia and beyond. The most recent inspection singled out this kind of provision as a significant strength, finding that pupils develop leadership, collaboration, resilience and self-confidence that prepare them well for the future.

Three sites give the place a sense of progression rather than sprawl. The Pelican holds the youngest children in a calm, welcoming early-years setting where carefully planned activities encourage creative, social and physical growth from age 3. The Prep carries pupils through to age 11. The Upper School on Hills Road, a 27-acre site backed by a further 45 acres of playing fields at Little Abington, houses the senior phase and sixth form. Pastoral and academic leaders coordinate the moves between them, so children step up without losing their footing.

Four centuries of history give the school its confidence. Founded in 1615 under the will of Dr Stephen Perse, a fellow of Gonville and Caius College, it began as a free grammar school for talented boys from all backgrounds, admitted girls to the sixth form in 1995, and became fully co-educational in 2012. That long lineage runs through a roll of alumni that includes the literary critic F.R. Leavis, the theatre director Sir Peter Hall, who founded the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour, and two Nobel laureates in science.

The Perse performs at the top end of England at every stage that is examined. At GCSE, 73% of entries were graded 9 or 8, the equivalent of the old A*, and 88% reached grade 7 or above. These are results that reset expectations for what a year group can do.

For GCSE the school sits 40th of 3,895 in England on academic results, a position inside the top 1.0% and ranked against every school in England with published GCSE results, state and independent. It is first in Cambridge. On the broader overall measure, which blends those results with the FindMySchool inspection score, it holds 30th of 3,887. Both figures are proprietary FindMySchool rankings built from official data, and both place the school among the highest-performing in England.

A-level is just as strong, and on some measures stronger. In the most recent results, 43% of grades were A* and 79% were A* or A, against an England average of around 24% for A*/A; fully 93% of grades reached A* to B, well ahead of the England average of around 47%. That performance ranks the sixth form 26th of 2,562 in England for A-level results, again the top 1.0%, and second in Cambridge, with an overall position of 20th of 2,561. Taken together across both phases, the Perse ranks 22nd in England, a combined standing that confirms the consistency from Year 11 through to Year 13.

The Prep is not separately placed in the performance tables, because independent prep schools do not sit the state Key Stage 2 assessments. What can be said with confidence is that the academic culture established early feeds directly into those senior headlines. Specialist subject teaching and dedicated science laboratories mean pupils meet demanding material well before Year 7, so the senior results are the outcome of a long build rather than a late sprint.

Teaching here is rigorous and pitched high. Teachers set demanding academic expectations, and the curriculum is deliberately broad as well as deep, a combination the inspection credited with cultivating high achievement across the school. All relevant standards are met across leadership, quality of education, wellbeing, social and economic education, and safeguarding.

Independent thinking is taught, not assumed. Pupils are pushed to weigh ideas, argue a case and reach beyond the syllabus, and the outdoor education programme is used explicitly to teach critical thinking, leadership and teamwork alongside formal PSHE. In the early years at the Pelican, planned activities are designed to encourage intellectual and emotional growth and to develop creative, social and physical skills, so the habits of enquiry begin at age 3 rather than at the start of exam courses.

Technology is integrated rather than bolted on. Students in the senior years work on a common device issued through termly charges and retained after use, which keeps a consistent digital platform across the timetable. For pupils who need extra support, a purpose-built Learning Support suite near the library provides screening, specialist help with dyslexia and small-group teaching, so that stretch and support sit side by side rather than in tension.

Destinations are where the Perse's academic strength becomes most visible. In a recent admissions cycle the school recorded 137 Oxbridge applications, of which 52 received offers, an offer rate of 38%, and 46 places were taken up. Cambridge accounted for 57 applications and 22 offers, with 17 places accepted; Oxford for 80 applications and 30 offers, with 29 accepted. On combined Oxbridge success the Perse ranks fifth in England on the FindMySchool rankings, a striking standing for a co-educational day school.

Beyond Oxbridge, the 2025 leavers spread across the most research-intensive universities in the country. Durham took 23 students, University College London 17, and Warwick 13, with Edinburgh, Imperial College London and York on 10 each and Bath, Bristol and Exeter on six apiece. A pair of leavers crossed the Atlantic to Brown and Harvard. Medicine is a particular strength: in a recent year, 88% of the 34 students who applied to medicine and veterinary courses received at least one offer, a rate far above the figure across England, and medicine was the single most popular destination subject in 2025, closely followed by engineering. For the 2023-24 leaving cohort of 212 students, 79% progressed straight to university, with most of the remainder moving into employment or a gap year before applying.

Internal progression reinforces these outcomes. Around half of each Year 7 intake arrives from the Perse Prep, and most Year 11 students continue into the sixth form, subject to meeting entry requirements rather than as an automatic right. That continuity means the preparation for competitive university applications begins years before Year 13.

The sixth form is the engine room of the Perse's reputation, and it is built for academic ambition. Entry is competitive: the standard offer requires at least 58 points across a candidate's eight best GCSE results, with grade 7 or above in each chosen A-level subject and grade 8 in maths and the sciences for those continuing them. The school's own Year 11 students meet the same bar as external applicants, who sit entrance tests and an interview before places are confirmed on GCSE results.

Breadth is a feature, not an afterthought. More than 30 A-level subjects are offered, and the list runs well past the usual core to include Greek, Latin, Mandarin, Ancient History, Philosophy, Politics and Music, so students can keep a genuinely wide field open into Year 12 or pursue an unusual combination without leaving school to find it. The demanding routes that competitive courses expect, further maths, triple sciences and the like, feed engineering, natural sciences and medicine directly.

What sets the upper years apart is how far students are pointed beyond the specification. University guidance is structured around the most competitive routes, with strong track records in medicine, veterinary medicine and Oxbridge, and applicants sit the entrance tests and interviews those routes demand with real support behind them. Post-16 life has its own spaces too, from a sixth-form café and the Hersch Room to a common room with soft seating for downtime between lessons. Subject societies, from the senior Classics group Lyceum to a History Society led by sixth-form ambassadors and a Perse Investment Club, turn A-level interests into independent enquiry, the kind of intellectual stretch admissions tutors look for. The result is a sixth form that treats the syllabus as a starting point rather than a finishing line.

Entry to the Perse comes at several clear points. The Pelican admits children from age 3 into pre-prep, with progression into the Prep. The principal senior intake is at 11+ for Year 7, the busiest door of all, where roughly half of places go to pupils moving up from the Perse Prep and roughly half to children joining from other schools. There is a further intake at 13+ for Year 9 and a substantial entry at 16+ into the sixth form, where places open to external applicants alongside the school's own students.

Assessment at 11+ is designed to see a child in the round rather than to run a single exam. Candidates take tests in English, maths and verbal reasoning, submit a report from their current school, and attend a short interview, so that potential shows through in more than one format. Access arrangements are available for candidates with additional needs when declared at registration. Sixth-form applicants sit reasoning papers and an interview, with most offers conditional on GCSE results.

As an independent school, the Perse admits directly rather than through the local authority, so families apply to the school itself. Registration for 11+ typically closes in the autumn term, with assessments in January and offers in February; prospective families should confirm the current cycle's dates with the school. Open events run in the autumn, with the Upper School and sixth-form events held on 26 September 2026 for entry the following year. For nursery fee details, see the school website; government-funded early-years hours are available for eligible families, and you can read our guide to nursery funding.

Pastoral care is organised so that no child slips between the cracks of a three-site school. Academic and pastoral leaders coordinate transitions between year groups and sites to keep the environment inclusive and welcoming, and pupils' physical and mental health and emotional wellbeing meet all standards. Wellbeing is taught as well as supported, with online safety and bullying prevention built into the curriculum, and lessons branded think equal and global perspectives are timetabled deliberately to promote inclusion and value diversity.

Safeguarding is secure. The latest inspection found leaders and staff demonstrate a thorough understanding of their safeguarding responsibilities, with clear policies, careful recording and reporting, frequent training, and a culture of listening to pupils through multiple channels across all three sites. Recruitment checks and work with external agencies meet statutory expectations.

Belonging is built in smaller units within a large school. A tutor system keeps day-to-day oversight close, while culture groups such as flourish and the Perse culture project embed inclusion, equality and diversity into ordinary school life. Between the tutor structure and the sheer breadth of co-curricular options, most students find a place well beyond their own year group.

Co-curricular life at the Perse is exceptional in scale and specific in character. The school runs more than 100 clubs and societies, around 70 music ensembles and roughly 160 sports teams, and its strength lies in the named detail rather than the totals.

Music is a serious operation. About 70 ensembles rehearse each week, among them two full symphony orchestras, three string orchestras, three wind bands, a big band and six choirs spanning classical and contemporary repertoire, alongside chamber groups, jazz bands and a music technology society. Director of Music Ben Wingfield oversees six classroom teachers and 30 visiting instrumental specialists, so a child who takes up an instrument here is quickly absorbed into performance rather than left practising alone. That depth of provision is what turns music from a lesson into a habit.

Sport matches the ambition. The Perse Sports Centre holds a 25-metre swimming pool, a 10.5-metre climbing wall and an indoor sports hall, while the wider estate adds two full-sized floodlit all-weather pitches, five netball courts, a six-lane indoor cricket net and a shooting range. Cricket, hockey, netball, rugby and tennis form the competitive core, and with around 160 teams fielding some 450 matches a term, the programme reaches well beyond the first eleven. Pathways run in both directions: a Talented Athlete Programme and Junior Academy provide strength, conditioning and elite development for the most able, while a Couch to 5km scheme brings in the beginners.

Drama and the wider arts have a purpose-built home in the Peter Hall Performing Arts Centre, a 370-seat venue opened in 2018 and named for the Royal Shakespeare Company founder and Old Persean Sir Peter Hall. The Perse Players stage annual plays and musicals open to all year groups, and a student-run Perse Theatre Company handles the lighting, sound and stagecraft behind them, so pupils learn the technical craft as well as the performance. Art studios with a graphic design suite and gallery extend the creative reach further.

The intellectual co-curriculum is where the school's academic character shows most clearly. Among more than a hundred clubs and societies, running from bridge and sewing to robotics, debating, literature and ecology, sit a Cipher Challenge Club that enters Southampton University's national code-breaking competition, a Maclaurin Society of weekly mathematics talks, a Maths Olympiad Club, a Programming Club that competes in the British Informatics Olympiad and Advent of Code, an AI Study Club and a Lego Robotics group. Duke of Edinburgh's Award runs at all levels and accredited NICAS climbing courses feed the wider outdoor programme. Across all of it, the consistent thread is that pursuits are taken seriously enough to reach a high standard, not offered as a box to tick.

Day fees at the Perse are charged per term and rise with the year group. For 2026/27, Upper School and sixth-form tuition is £9,482 per term, which works out at roughly £28,400 across the year as an estimate. A one-off registration fee of £240 and a securing and induction fee of £840 apply, both non-refundable, and lunch is charged separately at £368 per term. Fees at the earlier stages are lower and are published in full on the school's fees page.

Financial assistance is a genuine part of the offer rather than a token. The school runs means-tested bursaries worth between 5% and 100% of fees, and has spent more than £1m in a single year on fee assistance, so a means-tested award covering the full fee is a real possibility for families who qualify on income. Merit scholarships, most worth around 5% and occasionally 10%, are awarded for academic, art, drama, music, sport and general achievement, and every sixth-form applicant is considered for an academic scholarship. Because bursaries turn on family income, families on modest means should test their eligibility before ruling the school out.

The Perse operates as a day school across its three Cambridge sites: the Pelican pre-prep, the Prep, and the Upper School on Hills Road, on the south side of the city. Sports provision extends to a further 45 acres of playing fields at Little Abington, a short distance out of town. There is no boarding.

Standard school hours apply across the senior school, with an extensive co-curricular timetable running into the late afternoon and wraparound provision at the younger sites. Dedicated coach routes bring students in from across the region: services run by Andrews Coaches cover Cambourne and the Madingley Park and Ride on Route 1, and Royston, Melbourn, Harston and the Trumpington Park and Ride on Route 2, both stopping at the Prep and the Upper School. For nursery hours and fee details, families should consult the school directly, and eligible families can access government-funded early-years hours.

Securing a place is the real hurdle. The Perse is academically selective and heavily sought after, with assessments at 11+, 13+ and 16+ that sift a large field. The education is exceptional; the obstacle is getting in, and families should prepare for genuinely competitive entry.

Fees are significant. Day fees of £9,482 per term at the senior school place the Perse among the more expensive independent options in the region, and the added costs of trips, music tuition and the like accumulate. The bursary programme, worth up to the full fee and means-tested on income, is the route for families who cannot meet the full cost, so it is worth testing eligibility early.

Careers guidance in the younger senior years is a noted area to develop. The school's main improvement priority is to enhance the careers programme for Years 7 to 9, so that pupils are better prepared to make informed choices about their future. It is a refinement rather than a weakness, but a fair question to raise for families thinking long-term.

It is a large, multi-site school. With around 1,735 pupils across three sites, the Perse is sizeable. The pastoral structure is designed to keep it personal, but families set on a small, single-site setting should weigh the scale against the breadth it makes possible.

The Perse is one of the strongest academic schools in England, and the data backs the reputation: elite-tier GCSE and A-level results, a top-five England standing for combined Oxbridge success, and 2025 destinations that ran from Oxbridge and medicine to Harvard and Brown. What lifts it above a results machine is the breadth around the academics, from 70 music ensembles and a 370-seat theatre to an outdoor education programme the inspection named a defining strength. Pastoral care is coordinated carefully across the three sites, and safeguarding is secure.

It is best suited to academically able children, from nursery age upward, whose families want a rigorous, all-through education with real co-curricular depth and are prepared for competitive entry. The main caveat is access: places are scarce and fees are high, though means-tested bursaries worth up to the full fee meaningfully widen the door for families who qualify.